Encaustic, mixed media and installation artist
Studio 3-103
email: writeshans@gmail.com
portfolio: www.newbyart.com
etsy shop: www.newbyart.etsy.com
Artist Statement
The materials I choose are pregnant with meaning and create their own visual
vocabulary, which I – as the artist – then adopt and lift into the artmaking process. The
materials are like tactile stand-ins that have the capacity to point to more ethereal,
intangible constructs. I work with animal gut, beeswax, fabric, wire, book pages and
light, re-contextualizing them to create installations and 3-D sculptures that beckon
viewers to experience embodiment, femininity and spirituality.
Biography
Shannon Newby is an artist working with beeswax and mixed media. She earned her
BA in education and art at Taylor University, and is currently pursuing a Masters in the
study of Theology and the arts at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia where
she is writing a thesis about community art centers. When she has time to get into the
studio, she works on installations of illuminated seed pods incorporating animal gut, tree
branches and beeswax.
A few snippets from a recent article in Comment magazine:
Originally from Indianapolis, Shannon always wanted to be an artist "when she grew up"
and her parents encouraged her art-making. "My favorite Christmas gift growing up was
a set of Bob Ross oil paints," she reflects, sitting at her kitchen table. "I went through a
season where I stapled or nailed everything to the wall. I'd change it weekly as
inspiration hit. One day it'd be southern paraphernalia strapped to the wall—the next,
the parts of my disassembled bike. My first installation pieces, you could say! Even in
elementary school, I was working to incorporate different elements into my art." Back in
Shannon's kitchen I discover that encaustic art wasn't her first choice. As a child, she
dreamed of animating twenty-first century sleeping beauties for Disney; as a teenager
she'd planned on a career in interior design. It wasn't until 2006 that she arrived at the
hot wax appliqués of encaustic art. "I think I was pretty much sold on day one when I
learned you had to use a heat gun or blow-torch to fuse the wax. My blow-torch and I
have been inseparable ever since."
Encaustic workshops
I offer encaustic workshops and private lessons. Please check my website for
the most updated information, or contact me by email.
